Who is this Girl?
by Mai'shardstyle
Summary: Conan meets a young girl who seems to have a problem. She is always alone and doesn't seem to want to make friends. She often comes to school with bruises but she has very little presence so nobody notices her. Will Conan bring the feeling back to her? Rated for child abuse and possible later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Who is This Girl?

A Conan Edogawa Mystery

By Jamie Skidmore

Flames, screams, confusion, heat, why is it so hot? It hurts so much. I don't like this. Mama, Papa, make it go away. I'm scared. Where are you? Why won't you answer me? I don't want to be here, take me away from this place…Mama, Why are you and Papa lying under the rubble in the corner over there? Why aren't you moving? The fire is all around you, why are you letting it burn you?

The girl wakes up with a start. Sweating and panting, with silent tears running down her cheeks, she gets up to shake off the nightmare so she can get ready for school. She heads to the kitchen of her new home to make herself something to eat.

(Why?) The girl thinks as she turns on the stove.(Why do I keep remembering that night? It's already painful enough to be going through every foster home available without having these dreams every night.)The stove finishes warming up and she begins cracking eggs and cooking them into crisp over easy perfection. She slides them to a plate and makes herself a few pieces of bacon and sits at the table to eat.

Meanwhile, at the Moore Detective Agency, high school detective Shinichi Kudo, or better known as Conan Edogawa, gets ready for elementary school under the carefully watchful eye of Ran Moore.

" Come on, Conan! You're going to be late!" Ran yells to the small boy hurrying to pack the last of his supplies into his backpack.

" Ok, ok, I'm Going, I'm going!" He yells, finally finishing and dashing out the door. He runs to catch up the other three children waiting outside his apartment.

" Man, Conan, You're really late this time." Says the biggest of the group.

" Sorry, Genta, I overslept a bit." He says as Genta, A brownish, chubby boy with a buzz cut and two bald circles on either side of his head, frowns at him and huffs. The four set off for school at a quick pace to make up lost time. They reach the grounds with plenty time to spare because they ran most of the way until Genta and Mitsuhiko got tired and they were forced to slow down.

" Geez, Mitsuhiko, you're really out of shape." The smallest of the group, and the only girl, says to the skinny freckled boy beside her. The boy blushes hopelessly in embarassment.

" Sorry, Ayumi, I guess I should workout more." He says to the short, thin, dark brown haired girl looking at him.

" We still made it in time though." Says Conan as they walk into the building. They make their way to the classroom. As Conan walks through the door he bumps into someone and falls to the floor.

" Ah, sorry." The girl he collided with says softly. Her voice sounds a little strange. She picks herself off the floor and holds out her hand to help Conan up. He takes it and smiles at her.

" Thanks." He says. She ignores him and goes to her seat. He realizes that he never noticed her before. This girl managed to slip through his observation completely. He scolds himself inwardly. He's supposed to be a great detective but he never noticed one of his own classmates. He studies her thoroughly so that he won't overlook her again.

The first thing he notices is her hair which is such a pale blonde color so as to appear white. The thin strands flow down to her shoulders in ever so slight waves. The pale color frames her face and brings out her eyes, Which are a strange, dark blue-purple color. Her skin is pale and looks delicate though, judging by her clothes, she did a lot of house work for her family. There are soap and other stains on her shirt and shorts. She's wearing a denim over jacket with only one of the buttons fastened. It seems a very strange form of dress to him.

Everyone rushes to their seats as class starts and Conan skillfully tunes out the teacher while still looking like he's paying attention. He thinks about that girl for the entire class and asks Ayumi about her after school.

" Hey, do you know that girl who sits at the back of class?" Ayumi smiles.

" I bet you didn't notice her at all before you bumped into her today." She says.

" Do you have any idea why that is?" He asks. Her face takes on a thoughtful look.

" I don't know. She just seems to fade into the background. She's very inconspicuous" Ayumi remarks.

" Nobody knows practically anything about that girl. All I know is that her name is Sai Takino. She's the most mysterious person in this class." Says Mitsuhiko, who happened to hear the conversation.

" Yeah, she doesn't even seem to have any friends." Intrudes Genta, who just now realized who they were talking about.

" Hey! Why don't we make her our friend so we can find out what makes her so mysterious." Ayumi suddenly proposes.

" Hey, guys, you can't just fo-" Conan starts to say but is interrupted by the other three's shout of assent. After school, they all rush off to meet Sai and become her friend with Conan slinking behind them. They find her just outside the school gate and they try to strike up a conversation. She just keeps walking no matter what they say. After a little while Genta gets angry (as expected) and asks her what the heck her problem is. She stays silent even while being yelled at.

" Hey, are you even listening? You know, it's very rude to ignore people for no reason." Yells Genta. This time she stops and looks at him blandly. Genta gets even angrier.

"Just because you're looking at me doesn't mean that you're paying attention." He yells. At this she sighs and turns to him. She moves her hands around in a dance like pattern. Genta gets a confused look on his face.

" What are you doing? Trying to confuse me?" He asks. Conan watches with interest because he knows what is going on.

" Stuuuupid, She's using sign language. She's probably deaf and doesn't speak." But that was strange, she said sorry to him when they bumped into each other. At that Sai turns to him with an emotionless face.

" I am not deaf," She says suddenly. He notices the slightly nasally tone in her voice as one of a person who can't quite hear themselves," I am simply hard of hearing. I can speak if I want but I prefer to stay silent as it tends to help people leave me alone." Her voice sounds either very bored or devoid of emotion. Conan looks at her in confusion, a child shouldn't sound like that at all.

"Why would you want to be alone? Isn't it sad?" Ayumi asks. Sai turns to her with a questioning look.

"Why would I be sad? I've always been alone." She says. They all look at her in surprise.

"Well I have to get home or I'll be yelled at by my dad so bye!" Sai says and runs off.

Sai hopes she won't be late or her step-father will hit her again. She makes it home just in time by running at her fastest speed. She is out of breath by the that time and stops to catch her breath before going into the house.

"I'm home!" She calls as she closes the door.

"Why were you in such a hurry?" A man's voice growls. Sai flinches.

"I'm sorry step-father, some of my classmates stopped me. It took a little bit to leave them behind." Sai tries to explain.

"Why did you let them stop you in the first place?" A female voice screeches from the kitchen. Sai looks to see a thin, cruel looking woman. She has lines around her mouth from frowning and sneering all the time. More wrinkles adorn her forehead from her permanently furrowed brow. She has the look of someone who thinks they deserve to be treated as royalty. Sai cringes from her step-mother as she stomps up to rain yet another blow on the girl's tiny body. This time she slaps her on the face, leaving a red mark that would later develop into a bruise.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I won't let it happen again!" Sai cries at she crouches to try to protect her body from any more blows that might fall if her step-parents feel like it.

" Machiko, stop it, your hand is red. It might bruise if you hit her again." Cain, Sai's step-father, says.

" Your right," Machiko says," I wouldn't want my flawless skin to become tainted with injury." She walks flirtingly towards Cain and kisses him on the lips.

"We would never want that." He says. He looks at Sai as if he were looking at a particularly nasty bug in the floor. "If you have time to just lie there then go do your chores." He says with contempt. Sai, eager to get out of their way and avoid another beating, rushes off to do her chores. Which was everything from sweeping the floor to cleaning the toilet. She wondered how she was going to explain the bruise on her face tomorrow. Maybe she could say she ran into a door. She hoped that they would accept that excuse. By the time she had finished her chores it was dark out and she had very little time for doing her homework. (I guess I'll just have to do it during class again. That's one good thing about being invisible, nobody notices if your doing work during class.) She thinks to herself. She sits down on her bed to get as much done before she falls asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

A.N. Sorry for the long wait. I had writers block and lost interest for a while.

The next day dawns the same as any other. Sai silently gets out of bed and gets ready for school. She begins to run when she is out of the door. (How am I gonna explain this to the teacher this time?) She thinks touching the huge, hand shaped bruise on her face. (I hope they'll accept an excuse, I don't want to be shuffled around again). She makes it to school early and heads to the nurses office to ask for some ice. When she asks what happened Sai tells her that she ran into a door. The nurse gives her the ice without any more questions and Sai races to class with the ice on her face. She goes to her normal seat in the back of the classroom. She hopes her invisibility will protect her from being noticed by anyone.

Conan, while on his way to school, is still thinking about Sai. What was with her strange behavior. She seemed insistent that they leave. Could there be something going on at home? He walks into the classroom and sits down at his seat. He looks around for Sai and sees her in her seat holding something to her face. He looks harder and sees that it's ice. (Why does she have ice? Did she hurt herself?) He decides to ask her about it during lunch. He focuses his attention on the teacher until the lunch bell rings. He rushes to get his lunch and looks for her. He finds her on the roof of the school. She is just sitting quietly eating her lunch. Nobody else is around. He walks up to her and she looks up, surprised.

" I didn't know that elementary kids were allowed up here." He says. Sai composes herself before answering.

" I'm usually the only one allowed up here because I gained the teachers' trust." Conan looks impressed. He sees the bruise on her face as the reason for the ice.

"What happened to your cheek?" He asks. Sai doesn't even flinch and gives her answer with practiced ease.

" I ran into a door." And she continues eating. Conan doesn't seem convinced and he sits down beside her and opens his own lunch. A short silence follows, broken only by sounds of eating. Conan looks very closely at Sai's bruise. He notices the hand shape that it was taking. Sai notices him looking at her and seems to know what he's thinking.

" Can't you just leave me alone and pretend I'm invisible like everyone else?" She asks. Conan looks at her for a moment, considering.

" Because, you seem troubled and …lonely." He looks at her seriously. Sai looks at him strangely.

" Why do you care? Why should you stick out your neck for a complete stranger?"

" Because I'm a detective." Sai starts laughing.

" You're a detective?" She says. She doesn't look impressed. "How laughable. Don't make yourself out to be some sort of hero. It's stupid and pathetic." Her voice takes on some emotion for the first time, contempt. The bell rings and she abruptly gets up. Before she walks away she stops and turns to him. " You know what? I hate detectives the most." Conan stands there for a moment, stunned. He runs to class and contemplates Sai's unnatural pessimism. (Why does she hate detectives? What did we ever do to her?) He decides to do a little research on her background after school.

Throughout the whole rest of the day Sai purposely ignores and avoids Conan and the gang. Ayumi and the others notice and get increasingly annoyed as the day goes by and, by the time school is over, are ready to confront her. They think she's being hateful just for spite. Conan notices them muttering to themselves and figures that they're up to something. When the bell rings he sees them follow Sai out and suddenly gets a bad feeling so he goes with them. They corner her around the front gate of the school and question her hotly.

"Why are you ignoring us? You're just being mean aren't you." Ayumi says.

"Yeah," Genta intrudes, "You think you're too good for us don't you?"

"You don't have to avoid us like a jerk." Mitsuhiko adds. Sai looks at them blandly as they continue to rail at her. After a bit she pushes through them and tries to walk away but Mitsuhiko grabs her arm. "Don't run away!" She jerks away and holds her arm close to her as if it hurt. Conan notices this and begins to put two and two together. She glares angrily at mitsuhiko.

"I'm not running away. Believe me when I say it's better for both of us if I stay away." Just then a car pulls up. When Sai sees it her face pales for a second, then returns to normal as the man who's driving calls to her.

"Sai! Come on! I came to pick you up!" She turns away from them and waves. The car itself looks fairly normal. A red station wagon with a nice finish. The man in the car is a well built man in his mid 20s. His curly brown hair stops at his ears and is slicked back. His green eyes look at them with hidden contempt.

"Coming step-father!" She turns back to them with a strange look on her face. She looks resigned to an unknown fate. "Just leave me alone and it'll work out for all of us." She says and runs to the car. She opens the rear passenger side door and gets in. Conan sees this and wonders, (Why didn't she get into the front? It was empty.) The car zooms off and the children start walking home.

"What did she mean by that? Better for both if she stays away?" Ayumi asks.

"Who knows?" Genta answers.

"Wait, you guys," Conan says as he comes to a conclusion, "I think she's being abused." The gang stops and stares at him in disbelief.

"If she's being abused, why doesn't she say so?" Mitsuhiko wants to know.

"There are countless possible reasons why abused children don't say anything about it," Conan says, "But think about it. She keeps coming to school with bruises and did you see her face when her father showed up? She's afraid of him." They slowly see the logic in his explanation and immediately try to run to her house but Conan stops them. "We can't do anything about it until we have proof and besides, I only said that's what I think is going on. For now lets try to be friends with her and maybe she'll tell us what is wrong." The three reluctantly agree and head home without a fuss.

Conan, however, heads directly to Dr. Agasa's house to do some research on Sai. They use his computer to look for information on her background. The first thing that pops up is a headline in a local newspaper. The article reports about the fire that killed her parents. It tells about how she was rescued by a fireman and how she had somehow damaged her ears in the flames. The pictures of the house in flames makes it seem like no one could have survived. She had been found pinned under a support beam. Luckily the fire hadn't reached her yet but her parents had died before the firemen had arrived. Their bodies were found across the room under a pile of rubble. It seemed that she had been pinned and when her parents tried to save her the roof collapsed on top of them. She probably saw the whole thing. Conan figured this was the cause of her pessimism and lack of emotion.

As he continues looking he found out that the fire was arson induced and that the perpetrator had probably had a grudge against her parents who were lawyers who specialized in child abuse. Ironic that now she was most likely the subject of abuse. Conan continues searching. He found that after the fire she had no relatives, except a much older brother who had gone missing when she was five years old, so she was sent to an adoption center. Her first adoption went smoothly, at first, but later they sent her back because she was quote/unquote "too depressing". The second time they were drug dealers that she reported to the police herself. Her third family was nice and it looked like she had finally found a good place. She managed to live there for a year and a half before another tragedy struck. Her step parents were killed in a car accident. Their relatives offered to take the other kids but they weren't willing to take someone who wasn't really related to them so back to the center she went.

Her fourth family was the worst yet. They were torn apart by a "detective" who was hired to follow other family members around. What everyone else didn't know was that he was reporting and being paid by nearly everyone and he was feeding them lies and just enough truth to keep them against one another so that he would keep being paid. He eventually drove half the family into trying to kill one another and then he skipped town. She is now on her fifth try to get adopted and that's probably why she isn't saying anything about the abuse.

'Well, at least I know why she hates detectives now' Conan thinks to himself. He looks at the clock and realizes that he is late for dinner and has to hurry home or he'll get hit by Kogoro again.


End file.
